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People say that life is like a roller coaster.
I thought that life is like a zebra: there are good times and
bad times, white stripes and black ones. I wonder if an albino
one exists. I hear that the grass is always greener on the other
side, but I have yet to meet a person who has found happiness
without suffering, love without heartbreak, and peace without
soul-searching.
I was born in 1975, in a small town on the other
side of Transylvania called Chernovtsi. If you read Bram Stoker's
"Dracula," you will recognize the reference to Bukovenia,
the other side of Carpathian Mountains with its beautiful landscapes
and blood-curdling folktales. I grew up, a young Jewish poet that
preached equality between the Ukrainians, the Russians, and the
Jews, in the times of Perestroika, while the Great Russian Empire
shed the parasites of the adjourning republics.
Terror of self-proclaimed freedom reigned over
the abandoned bastard children of Russia. Ukraine was in anarchy,
on the verge of civil war. Slogans such as ''Let's drown the Jews
in Russian blood" proudly wavered in the wind over the knocked-down
statute of Lenin. Times changed, people changed, life became a
black stripe on the zebra for many people. Being young, and of
course extremely courageous, I joined the organization for the
Restoration of Jewish traditions and culture, sponsored by Israel.
I went to a Synagogue and followed Sabbath, I was in all the plays,
and I was published. I was nearly famous.
I woke up one Sunday morning in December of
1992 to find out that I had one week to say, "good-bye"
to all of my friends and all the things that I loved and hoped
for. On December 23, 1992 the train took us to Moscow and then
from Sheremetievo to New York. On December 25th, 1992 we arrived
in Flint, MI.
Don't ask. 1993 was a long year.
Bio: Hi, all, I love your site. I had just lost a
job and I'm thinking, to avoid despair of reality, that Goddess
wants me, along with going to school and taking care of my baby
boy, to pay attention to my creative side. I write short stories
and poetry in Russian and English. Keep in touch, blessed be!
Margarita Oykhman Smith
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